Windows 8 Review

Windows 8 VS. Windows 7: Fight!

Windows 8 haters have already labeled the new OS as the second coming of Windows Vista, but those who can contain their bile know that Win 8 is likely to be far from the performance-sucking, driver-breaking Windows Vista in its pre-SP1 days.

To find out how Windows 8 compares to the lithe Windows 7, we took an Asus P8Z77-V Premium board; inserted a Core i7-3770K, a GeForce GTX 690, 8GB of DDR3/1866, and an OCZ Vertex 4 SSD; loaded up Windows 7 Professional SP1; and ran our benchmarks. We then took an identical Vertex 4 SSD, loaded up Windows 8 Professional, and reran our benchmarks. We used the same beta 304.79 GeForce drivers for both and the latest beta drivers available from Asus for our testing.

The verdict? We expected the scores to be nearly identical, and for the most part they were. As Windows 8 is built on the foundation of Windows 7, we didn’t expect a quantum shift here, but we did see some performance differences. The most glaring difference was in PCMark 7, where Windows 8 produced significantly faster scores in the creativity and computation tests.

Why such a huge difference? We suspect it’s the result of changes to Windows Media Foundation in Win 8. Windows Media Foundation is Microsoft’s replacement for DirectShow, which was implemented in Windows Vista. 3DMark 11 also showed a difference, but in Windows 7’s favor, by a smaller percentage, in the physics and combined score. The difference there is likely due to some efficiency with the Bullet Physics engine that FutureMark uses in the test. More importantly, the graphics score is the same between operating systems, which tells us there should be no difference when gaming in Windows 7 or Windows 8—at least on Nvidia hardware.

Windows 8 includes native USB 3.0 support, and we saw it smoking the stock Windows 7 USB 3.0 performance by a hefty margin. Our Asus board, however, includes a Turbo mode, which puts it within striking range of Windows 8. USB 3.0 performance on Windows 8, for the most part, is pretty awesome, though.

The rest of our tests were mostly a wash except in two interesting instances: Cinebench 11.5 and X264 HD 5.0.1. Both are multithreaded like mad, and both show about a 5 percent advantage in Windows 8. This could quite possibly be a sign of the improved scheduler in Windows 8.

To sum up, Windows 8 performance is generally the same as Windows 7, with a performance edge in anything that uses the Windows Media Foundation and likely anything that is heavily multithreaded. USB 3.0 is also markedly improved. We do note the issue with Bullet Physics in 3DMark 11, but we don’t think it’s a very serious issue. So all you haters better find something else to hate on.

Early Birds Get Preferred Pricing

Microsoft has simplified the editions and prices of Windows 8—at least compared to how the company initially segmented its first batches of Windows 7. However, folks considering an upgrade won’t want to delay for too long, as Microsoft is also offering early birds a significant discount on Windows 8.

Windows 8, in total, will arrive in four versions: Windows RT, the ARM version of the OS that comes preinstalled on supported devices; Windows 8; Windows 8 Pro; and Windows 8 Enterprise.

If you’re already running Windows XP, Vista, or 7, you can upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for $39 until January 31, 2013. That’s just for a digital download; retail copies will cost $69 until the deadline, when the Pro price will then bump to $199. There’s no word, as of this article’s writing, how much Windows 8 (standard version) might cost.

Still, compare that to the pricing scheme for the three major versions of Windows 7 currently on the market: $119 for Home Premium, $199 for Professional, and $219 for Ultimate. To Microsoft’s credit, the company did offer similar discount pricing for Windows users shortly after Windows 7’s 2009 launch—a final cost of $50, $100, and $219, respectively.

Playing on price is Microsoft’s answer to the inexpensive upgrades Apple enthusiasts have enjoyed for years now. It also might just be Windows 8’s ticket to increased adoption rates in the face of Metro’s heavier criticisms.

Minimize Metro’s Annoyances

As mentioned, Windows 8’s Metro isn’t the simplest of interfaces to navigate—especially if you’re stuck on a good-ol’ keyboard and mouse. However, there are still a few tricks you can use to streamline and customize your way through (or around) Microsoft’s “tablet” portion of the OS.

For starters, make sure you fire up Windows’ Default Programs app—found by typing “default” into the Metro UI—and use it to set Windows Photo Viewer and Windows Media Player as the default apps for all file types they can open. This allows you to bypass the annoyance of jumping into Metro Photos or Video whenever you click on a related file in File Explorer.

If you want to avoid Windows 8’s app management entirely, don’t pin your most-used apps as Metro tiles; pin them to your taskbar. The bottom of your desktop screen might get a little cluttered, but at least you won’t have to hunt down your apps within Metro.

One of our favorite tricks allows you to bypass having to jump into Metro from the desktop to run Metro apps. Make a shortcut on your desktop and type this in for the item location: %windir%\explorer.exe shell:::{4234d49b-0245-4df3-b780-3893943456e1}

Your shortcut will pull up Windows 8’s Applications window, which will let you launch Metro apps directly from the desktop.

For a more intense Metro transformation, check out the third-party app Classic Shell (classicshell.sourceforge.net). Not only can you bring the long-lost Start Menu back into Windows 8, but you’ll also be able to boot directly to Windows 8’s desktop instead of its Metro UI. Additionally, you can also completely disable a number of portions of the Windows 8 Metro UI: Hotspots, the Charms Bar, etc.

Windows 8 also includes a number of useful tweaks within its Group Policy Editor, including the ability to bypass Windows 8’s lock screen for faster logging-on. It won’t spare you from Metro, but it’ll at least help you get to your safe and friendly desktop even faster.

Windows 8's Applications window is the sure-fire way to launch Metro apps without first haivng to jump into Metro

Windows 8: Under the Hood

While the new Metro UI will be what catches your attention in Microsoft’s latest OS, there’s actually far more under the hood that offers tangible performance benefits.

USB 3.0 Native Drivers

Windows 8 brings native USB 3.0 drivers to the mix, so no longer will you have to hunt for USB 3.0 drivers after your clean install. Even better, USB 3.0 performance is greatly increased with the native Microsoft drivers, too.

Windows Acceleration

Windows 8’s implementation of Direct2D—the API for hardware-accelerating text, bitmaps, and other UI elements—offers a huge leap in performance over Windows 7 by relying on DirectX 11.1 to accelerate 2D graphics. Other improvements include 60 percent faster decompression of JPEGs and PNGs and techniques to make graphically intense chores drink less power.

DirectX11.1/WDM1.2

DX11.1 offers fairly innocuous changes from DX11, with the most noticeable being support for enhanced 2D graphics acceleration. DX11.1 also officially adds stereoscopic support, improved memory management, and better management of tile-based rendering for low-power applications.

Improved Scheduler

We already know that AMD says Windows 8 will give its Bulldozer cores an uptick in performance, thanks to an improved scheduler that can deal with AMD’s core design, but it’s apparently also a bit faster on Intel parts. See our performance analysis on page 32 for more info.

App Suspension

This applies more to the Metro side of the fence, but instead of Metro apps staying open and sucking up RAM, Windows 8 will suspend the applications to disk when not in use and also let the OS reclaim RAM easily. Even desktop apps, though, can be individually suspended or have components suspended when physical memory is running low.

Windows RT: What is it?

Even though Microsoft is planning to put the full version of Windows 8 onto its upcoming Surface tablet, the company realized it would also need a stripped-down version to run on ARM tablets and cell phones, so it has created Windows RT to handle those duties. Windows RT, which stands for Windows Runtime (we know, the name is horrible) is designed to run one thing and one thing only—apps from the Microsoft store. That’s all it will do, just like how an iPad or Android tablet only lets you add or remove applications. There will be no desktop, no file explorer, or any other trappings of a traditional Windows environment. Think of it this way: Imagine if Microsoft yanked Metro’s tile-based interface out of Windows 8 and created an operating system out of it; that’s Windows RT in a nutshell.

Now before you go getting your jimmies rustled, consider this: Using apps is all a tablet is designed to do. You’ll have an app for your email, web browsing, e-books, and so forth, so you should be able to accomplish most of what you can do on today’s tablets on a Windows RT device. You’ll even be able to be mildly productive, as Microsoft is bundling a free version of its ubiquitous office suite, tentatively named Office RT. And though you’ll surely be able to download some sort of media player, Windows Media Player will not be bundled with Windows RT. Hopefully, VLC will come to the rescue.

What can’t you do in Windows RT? You won’t be able to install whatever Windows software you have lying around, so put that USB key away for now. If it’s not in the Windows 8 store, you can’t install it. Good news, though—Maximum PC will have an app, so you can read all about the latest hardware anywhere you take your tablet (we won’t ask where that is).

Comments

*laughs* They didn't dump the steering wheel as you claim. They redesigned it. If you don't like it, that's fine, but referring to it as a "sticky donut" makes you look like you have no clue what you are talking about. You say you've been driving cars and PC's for 30 years now. But yet you just now joined up to Maximum PC to troll and bash? Have fun with that.

The only troll around here is you bud. Did you read a few articles and now your a self proclaimed expert? You already failed at understanding basic economic principles accompanied by bad analogies. A lot of us here have been messing with a computers a very long time and when we see a crap OS we knows its crap. Maybe one day when you are older you will understand what it is to be a consumer and not a lobbyist troll for bad products and companies.

Asshole yes, when I deign to be. Troll no. I call it like I see it. I've failed nothing. And I have more than enough real life experience and education to call myself an expert if I chose to do so. What do you have going for you?

Well I'm all paid up. Paid the $39 each for all the computers in the house and now we are running a pretty good version of Windows. I only left Windows 7 on my son's computer as he is still young and only watches his favorite movies on it with the movies on his desktop. Windows 8 is a great OS and come have a drink of the cool aide. See ya on the other side.

Am I the only one that has/had issues with the Win8 CP and RC versions (and to this day Win7) with the network randomly switching back to public?

I'm seriously considering getting Win8 since I was genuinely impressed with the speed, file system improvements etc. in both the CP & RC (less impressed that I still had the exact same network issues as I did when I used Win7 and that abortion of a thing they call a interface but that can be worked around whether MS wants people to or not...) but don't really want to spend money, however trivial an amount people might think it is, if I'm going to have the same random networking issues that I had/have with Win7 & the Win8 CP/RC versions...

The smart thing to do is probably to wait a couple of months and see what problems other people are having with it first, but patience is a trait I was NOT blessed with. BAAWS-like mathematic skills? Yes. Pretty decent juggling skills? Check. Able to commit the dialogue of almost an entire movie to memory after seeing it once? God yes. Patience? Not so much :P

I installed a pre-release version of Win8 on my laptop, and for the most part (learning curve) have enjoyed the experience. Especially the boot times, incredibly fast. For all of you nay sayer's out there, try it before you trash it (unless of course you have a learning curve problem). I am sure there were people who decried the introduction of the ball point pen over the fountain pen. I also have used every version of Windows, even ME. And when all was said and done( updates etc) it wasn't all that bad. Vista (other than being annoying at times) gave me no difficulty. I noticed someone remarking that they were on the BETA team for Vista, obviously Microsoft did not choose wisely in their case.

All in all, what I am saying is simply this. If you don't like it, OK that is acceptable, but don't trash it. You may not like it, but others will. I will use it on some of my machines but not all of my machines. It is a step forward, and is optimized obviously for the touch screen market. In other words the future. Try using Win7 on a touch screen. Doable but clumsy.

STFU, NO ONE WANTS GARBAGE XBOX GAMES INFECTING THEIR COMPUTERS!!! After all, they use 10 year old hardware. Sure its fine if you want a cheap all around closed source computer Windows 8 will do fine. IF YOU WANT A REAL COMPUTER STICK TO WINDOWS 7 OR LINUX WHEN STEAM COMES TO IT!!!

Don't make me laugh with your "if you want a real computer stick with windows 7 or Linux" rant. Windows 8 is definitely polished than Windows 7 especially whats been done under the hood.

I don't mind metro and it is not a steep learning curve like most claim to say about windows 8. Linux is a learning curve when it comes to Sudo this and Sudo that.

You don't ever have to do such thing in Windows when one wants to install third party applications. Your only option that is close to how windows install stuff is the Ubuntu Software center. Otherwise you are better off to use what comes included once you install Ubuntu and don't even bother.

Steam is just a client and it probably end up just like how it is on the Mac. Who cares. But the REAL GAMES are under Windows.

you must be either retarded or didnt actually read the review. W8 has enhancements for new tech that W7 wishes it did. Its obvious that that non RT version of W8 is specifically designed for power useres with modern hard core hardware. Ill throw the tool on that lets me bypass the metrosexual UI(a minor foot note of the new features in W8) and enjow an OS that actually takes proper advantage of multicore cprocs, SSDs and the new generation of DX. Fanks

I love how everyone keeps referring to metro as schizophrenic, when the disease I believe they are thinking of is MPD. Even though it isn't really considered a real disorder anymore, I believe qualities of MPD are closer to metro than schizophrenia... Just saying. I understand that we're all quoting what's-his-name, but still...

Unless your a spammer its all good, chin up and no need to apologize to assholes that think they own the comments section on MaximumPC.com and feel they have to right to trash anyone with differing opinions than theirs. And fuck the spell checkers out there as well.

Windows 8 is heaping pile of crap that is will fall into the same MS fail category that Win ME and Win Vista did.

I've used every Win O/S since Win 3.11 (yep even Win NT!) and can say this is the first time I'm not going to be the first kid on the block to load up the new version of Windows.

I'll wait for the inevitable "fixed" Windows 9 that will surely come out about one year from Win 8 release.

Personally, I think MPC is getting caught in the hype just like they did for Win Vista. Go back on some of the old issues and you'll see that MPC had the same attitude about "upcoming" Win Vista that it does about Win 8.

Posted my thoughts in 2 places just to make sure 'Silencer' catches it. Just in case he's in church or at a Romney Rally -

@Silencer - and Only Silencer

You are an absolute A$$HOLE. Go take your God, religion & guns elsewhere will ya please. What are you like 14? Even if you're not - you come off like one you jackass. Bet you live in a small town don't ya.

Go peddle your Republican propaganda on your own facebook page - this is not the place for it. This is a magazine for PC enthusiasts - not Bible Babbling Idiots.

Quit watching FOX news and maybe tune into an episode of "How The Universe Works" - you moron.

At the very least - change your username to something else as you really don't know when to shut up. The more intelligent you try to act - the more of an idiot you sound like.

I actually understand that - Republicans love nothing more than the sound of their own voices.

Maybe I missed it, but one issue I had with the OS was with desktop shortcuts. If a program did not put on there automatically during installation, adding a desktop shortcut in Windows 8 was a hassle. You couldn't just go the Start screen and use the right click menu to add one. No, you had to add one by hunting through your Programs. Not awful, but not as easy as it was in previous versions of Windows.

What advantages does Windows RT bring over iOS and Android? I know that one thing I do not like about Android and iOS is how content is limited. For example, if I use the Zinio magazine app on an iPad or Android tablet, some content is not allowed on those devices but it is allowed on the Windows desktop version of Zinio. Will Windows RT maintain the same thing as the desktop or will content be regulated much like it is in iOS and Android?

Runs far faster than Win7 the desktop is a improved 7 version and the new features like OS refresh works great. I'm starting to use a few Metro apps and they are improving. I will upgrade even my old i7 920 desktop when the time comes, without hesitation.
People just hate change, even when it has the chance to be an improvement.

I set up separate Windows 8 RTM HDD to use on my Mac Pro. I also have individual drives for Mountain Lion and Windows 7 Pro. After installing Office 2010, Quicken, Handbrake, makeMKV, etc. here is what I did to make Windows 8 suck less;

I either uninstalled or unpinned from the start page most of the Metro trash including Travel, Music, Weather and the other useless fluff.

Then I downloaded and installed a start button demo that restored the Windows 7-like start button albeit without the options. Next I configured the app to open Windows 8 to the desktop. After the really ugly logon screen is finished I'm back to the desktop, no Metro at all unless I want to go there.

The Windows 8 desktop looks pretty good. I like the colors, fonts and layout. I do miss rounded windows corners but Microsoft was never able to make them jaggy-free anyway.

The only really bad part of the desktop look is the lack of shadows. Overlapping windows without proper shadows just become a mess of intersecting lines instead of appearing as separate objects. Flat is ugly. On Mountain Lion the window I'm using really looks raised above the rest of the desktop. That's very comfortable and natural to look at.

Will I buy Windows 8? Probably so, I like to fiddle and don't use Windows very much anyway.

FreddieG - Your just a thief. Oh I'm sure you'll try to sugarcoat, justify, or sidestep your blatant pilfering behind some poor excuses or warped moral code, but at the end of the day you can't get around the fact that not purchasing your software is stealing, exactly as if you walked into Best Buy and grabbed a boxed copy off the shelf and put it under your coat.

I started using Windows 8 Consumer Preview, when it came out in February, 29, 2012. I Had not to much problems with it. The only problem i had was the my Cricket Wireless Modem A600 would not work. All the other programs that i used worked fine.

On May 28, 2012, the Windows 8 Release Preview was released and i updated my system. Windows 8 provided all the drivers for my HP Desktop which came with Vista when i purchased it brand new June/2009.

I started dual boot Vista and Windows 7, but i removed Vista and replaced it with Windows 8 RC.

I use Windows 8, 95% of the time. I love it, it's faster and better than all the other windows Operating Systems.

Windows Vista was a big disappointing, it would crash my system all the time. When I started using Windows 7, it would crash once in a while. Now that I am using Window 8, it rarely crashes. But when it does crash, only the software crashes, not the entire system.

When a software program crashes, it will not open again, you need to restart the computer to start the crashed software again. But all the other programs do work fine.

Overall Windows 8 is a great operating system and I high recommend you to get it.

Microsoft, please take metro (or whatever you want to call it), and shove it up your ass. Windows 8 has some nice improvements, but the UI is TERRIBLE. Has anyone there correlated the fact that Windows 7 was designed with user feedback in mind, and worked well, and as a result had nice sales, but with Windows 8 they're ignoring people and there are lots of complaints? It seems they haven't...

Absolutely! Despite the number of comentators out there who insist other wise, the new interface in Windows 8 just does not work all that well for desktop systems. While it works great for tablets, slates and note books, the same is not true for desktop systems and trying to force the same tablet interface across the board is a bad idea. And FYI to all those drinking the kool-aide out there, this has nothing to do with learning a new interface, again it works fine for other systems, just not desktops. However, there are plenty of other advances in Windows 8 that are worth upgrading for. Better multithreading support, better multicore support, USB3 support, better boot speeds, better hibernation and shut down support, leaner code for a smaller installation foot print and faster install, Windows foundation video library support, 5 times faster computational processing for CAD and math intensive applications just to name a few. So while there are reasons to upgrade, the new interface just isn't necessarily one of them.

Ya know, I hate it when people try to tell me I am "afraid" of the new os desktop. I am not afraid of it or the future for that matter. I just hate the desktop and refuse to buy the operating system because of it and many other "features" that invade my privacy or prevent me from installing the apps I want.

If Microsoft had any care for the customers they would have simply had a button...one damn extra button when you install the os to select the old windows desktop along with a metro button and there wouldn't be this mess they are now embroiled in.

I would guess anyone promoting the use of the new win8 doesn't work for a living, because they haven't used an os in a business environment. If they do I don't know what they are thinking. Win 7 has a icon on the taskbar that brings up window explorer to get at all your files with one click. How may gyrations do you have to do to get to the same files in win 8?

Businesses are still using XP, why, because it just works....about 50% of businesses in fact are still using it. PRODUCTIVITY is the active word in the business world! XP fills the bill as would win 7 too. The cost is too great to change over every time mickeysoft decides to come out with the latest and greatest in their estimation anyway....os.

When the beta came out I installed it and the first thing I did was to revert back to the win 7 interface using an app I got off the net. I actually didn't see any difference between the two oses....maybe win 8 was a little faster. I actually liked it, then they came out with the latest issue and I hated it because they either disabled the code for win 7 interface or took it out all together. So I nuked the partition and put XP back on....why? It just works and that is what I needed on my basement computer. I could have just as well used Kubuntu in its place. I didn't because I have software I need to program electronic devices with.

Pretty much agree with you.
I hate it too when people say I am stuck in the past, or I haven't tried it, or given it a chance. How much longer should I give it to come to my conclusion? I used it and it does not work for me in my home, and since I make the tech decisions Win 8 will not be supported in my house. This will be the second OS from MS that I won't be using, the first being Vista. And before anyone states anything about Vista, I was on the beta team for it and it was awful, same as Win 8.